Thai gold

[AzarovDmitriy]

Hi. I am going to leave Pattaya for 3 months. I would like to make a present for my wife and i want to buy a present with gold. She is not Thai girl. Just last time when my wife was in Pattaya she could see a lot of shops of gold. And like any other woman she wanted to buy something for herself. But one time I heard how she whispered that Thai gold is not good quality and has other color. And now I can't  decide to buy or not to buy. Is it a good quality? And will it a good present for not Thai girl? May be anyone bring clarity in this issue? Thanks a lot in advance.

[joe_momma]

I've not seen decent prices for gold in LOS, the margins charged (particularly for a farang who just walks into a random store) are much higher than the US.

 

Most Thai gold is 96.5% pure (a little more than 23k), this is an uncommon ratio in the west and you may encounter challenges if you were to sell outside of Asia. (BTW, the same holds true for trying sell western gold - either 99.99% [Canadian Maples, Suisse - 24k] or 91.67 [Krugerrand - 22k].)

 

IMHO you will do much better purchasing from a reputable dealer in the west - the VAT rules in Europe may make this a little more difficult. I understand Dubai is a large market.

 

One final caution, Chinese fakes are flooding the markets (actually Chinese are making fake everything these days - food, electronics, golf clubs, Viagra....), you should be very careful when making any large purchase!

 

Good luck!

Edited February 22, 2011 by joe_momma